How to Get Smarter—By Tomorrow, If Necessary!

Recently i had to explain to a very nice—and visibly puzzled—Verizon Wireless technician that I needed a new Treo because my last one was frozen. Literally. I'd lost it, and after scouring my entire house, car and three different purses, I finally called the dang thing from my landline. My freezer started ringing. There it was—wedged between the ice cube trays and frozen yogurt, feebly chiming away, taking its last electronic gasps. I'd been venting to a friend on the phone as I made myself a glass of ice water and must've put the phone back with the ice tray after we hung up.

I'm only thirtysomething, but fuzzy-headed things happen more than I'd like. Names are the worst. I recently spent an entire evening chatting with a cool, potential new friend and said, "We should totally get together next weekend, Jen!" Her name was Stephanie.

Admit it: I'm not alone. So what's happening here? "Research shows that for some, memory and mental sharpness begin to decline in the early thirties, although most people don't notice a real change until their forties or fifties," says Gary Small, M.D., director of the UCLA Center on Aging. In fact, doctors have seen physical evidence of memory impairment—small plaque buildups—on the brains of young men and women. Also spied in young women's gray matter: neurological "tangles" that may prevent messages ("I need my laptop in the den") from reaching the right destination in your mind ("Uh, what did I come into this room for again?"). That's not to say that just because you forgot your gym locker combination, there's something wrong with your brain; experts say mild, occasional mental blips are normal and nothing to worry about. But if you space out many times a day or feel like mental lapses are seriously impacting you, check in with your doctor, says Michael F. Roizen, M.D., chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and coauthor of You: The Owner's Manual, since medical issues like thyroid problems, sleep disorders and anemia can cause memory loss.

Meantime, there is good news. You can actually train your brain to snap out of run-of-the-mill type mind fog. Here, six steps to staying sharp:

Tackle Something (Anything) New

You've probably heard that doing crossword puzzles or learning a different language can help you preserve your smarts. But really, researchers say, anything that challenges your brain in a new way can sharpen your mind. Learning how to rock climb, driving somewhere you've never been before, even brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand will do it. "Brain-scan studies show that pushing your mind this way activates different circuits and strengthens connections between brain cells so they communicate better," says Dr. Small. In a large study at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago, elderly people who continually challenged their minds had a 33 percent lower risk of getting Alzheimer's disease over the next four years than people who didn't do such mental exercise; they also had 60 percent less overall memory decline.

Get Some "Brain Rest" Every Day

One of the major reasons many of us aren't as clear-headed as we could be is that we have too many distractions, says Dr. Small. First, there's the tech factor: BlackBerrys, cell phones, e-mail, computers, Internet, iPods, Kindles, etc. "Technology has been shown to greatly lessen people's attention spans," he explains. That's mostly because these gadgets encourage multitasking in the extreme—and when your mind is in several places at once, it's hard to think about any one thing very clearly. A recent study from the University of Missouri in Columbia found that the average person can't keep more than three or four ideas or tasks in their head at the same time. "Beyond that, your brain simply overloads and starts dropping things," says study coauthor and professor of psychology Nelson Cowan, Ph.D. Indeed, in a different study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that multitasking seriously disrupted normally sharp twentysomethings' ability to use a new skill they'd learned.

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In an ideal world, we'd all multitask less. But since most of us find that virtually impossible, we should at least get enough "brain rest," says Orli Etingin, M.D., founder and medical director of the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center in New York City. She recommends 45 minutes a day of do-nothingness. You can listen to music, read a book or go for a walk—any quiet, relatively passive activity counts (but not watching TV, which excites, rather than eases, your brain). It's during calm times like these that brain cell growth occurs, and you need that rejuvenation to maintain (or boost) your mental function. "I've seen lots of young women in my practice who, once they started slowing down and giving their mind a rest during the day, found that all of a sudden they were much sharper than before," says Dr. Etingin.

Take Your Memory Out for a Jog

"If you look at all the evidence, physical exercise has the strongest protective effect on the brain, more than diet, mental stimulation or anything else," says Dr. Small. "And not only does it prevent memory and cognition from declining; it's been shown to improve it." A study of 18- to 27-year-olds at Rhode Island College found that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise such as swimming, fast walking or stair climbing significantly increased the participants' creativity levels (as measured partly by storytelling ability and articulateness)—a boost that happened immediately and was still in effect when they were tested again two hours later. "Exercise improves circulation, so more oxygen gets to your brain," says Dr. Small. "In fact, research shows that the regions of the brain tied to memory are physically larger in exercisers than in nonexercisers. Working out actually helps grow brain cells."

Get Some Sleep, Girl!

More reason to treat yourself to eight hours of shut-eye a night: Researchers in Singapore recently found that after just one night of sleep deprivation, people's brains had periodic "power failures" during which their minds were, essentially, asleep. "This is proof that you are much more prone to mental lapses and mistakes when you don't get enough rest," says Dr. Roizen. And there's a cumulative effect. "The more nights you skimp, the more off' your brain will be," he says. What's more, studies show that learning and memory are solidified in the brain during sleep—so if you miss out, new knowledge you gain could slip right out of your head.

Find a Way to Chill

Whether it's meditation, singing karaoke or browsing clearance shoes at DSW, any activity that cuts stress will help you think more clearly. "Stress hormones can cause the part of the brain responsible for memory to shrink over time," says Dr. Small. Even a few hours of anxiety can dull your edge. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, found short bouts of stress cause the body to release hormones that disrupt the way information is processed and stored. What that means: Facts that may have been front-of-mind five minutes ago (like the name of the person you were shaking hands with) get lost in that great mental filing cabinet of yours and can't be called up when you need them.

Eat Brain Food

"We've found that omega-3 fatty acids, which are in foods like fish, avocados, walnuts and flax seeds, might aid in brain cell repair and improve mental functioning," says Dr. Roizen. The exact amount you need hasn't been well established, but research does show that the positive effects of eating more of these foods can be seen after a few months. And Dr. Small says he's seen changes in his patients after just a matter of weeks.

Instant Intelligence

Three research-proven ways to feel smarter ASAP

1 Stop to chat

Spending even 10 minutes talking to someone can improve your memory and intellectual performance as much as mental exercises like studying or doing puzzles, according to a University of Michigan study. The findings also suggest that isolation could impair memory.

2 Take a catnap

Harvard Medical School researchers recently found that young women who learned a new task and then took a 45-minute snooze were able to remember and perform better than those who stayed awake. (Just don't doze much longer or you're apt to feel fuzzier.)

3 And, yes, caffeinate

Having a strong cup of coffee or caffeinated tea can improve your learning and recall ability and make you more focused in the short term, research shows. But beware of overguzzling—having more than one cup at a time could make you twitchy.